Lenny Dykstra charged in L.A. with indecent exposure

Former Major League baseball player Lenny Dykstra appears in Los Angeles Superior Court for an arraignment in San Fernando, California August 8, 2011.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former New York Mets star Lenny Dykstra was charged on Thursday with exposing himself to a string of women who answered his Craigslist employment ads, Los Angeles city prosecutors said on Thursday.

The 48-year-old former World Series hero was charged with two misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and could face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine per count if convicted, Los Angeles City Attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan said.

Mateljan said Dykstra is accused of exposing himself to six women who answered ads he placed on Craigslist between 2009 and April of this year seeking a housekeeper or personal assistant.

"He would inform them that they also needed to give him a massage and then he would take off his clothes and expose himself to them," Mateljan said.

The charges against Dykstra come as he already faces considerable legal troubles.

In July, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the former athlete to stand trial on 25 counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, filing false financial statements and possessing a controlled substance.

That case stems from what Los Angeles County prosecutors say was a scheme by the former athlete, his accountant and another man to lease cars using phony business and credit information.

A search of Dykstra's home during the investigation allegedly turned up cocaine, Ecstasy and a synthetic growth hormone.

He faces 12 years in state prison if convicted at trial.

An unrelated indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in May accuses Dykstra of stealing or destroying some $400,000 in property that was part of his bankruptcy case.

The former ballplayer faces up to 80 years in federal prison if convicted in that case, according to federal prosecutors.

Dykstra, nicknamed "Nails" during his playing days, spent more than a decade in the major leagues, mostly as an outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies,

He is perhaps best remembered by Mets fans for the 1986 season, when he struck a walk-off game-winning home run in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

In Game 3 of the 1986 World Series, he hit a key lead-off home run, sparking a comeback by the Mets from a 2-0 series deficit to win the championship over the Boston Red Sox.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)